Latest Contributions by BradyHoak

I had the exact same issue. The sddraft was created on disk but the stageservice function failed. I believe the error lies in that the path names need to be complete and with double forward slashes for that function to work. I made a model in desktop using the stageservice tool (which required my sddraft) and then the upload service definition tool, exported that to python to see the working syntax, and embedded into my code. Here is the working function that makes a service draft, stages, and uploads it. def createDraftSDandPublishService():   # mxd and connection to server   mapDoc = arcpy.mapping.MapDocument('Incidents.mxd')   serverConnectionInDesktop = 'GIS Servers\\arcgis on Server1'   #service draft staging location   sddraft = "C:\\databaseimport\\Incidents.sddraft"   sd = "C:\\databaseimport\\Incidents.sd"   #publishing options   existingServerFolder = "Services_1505"   copyData = 'True'   #metadata for service   serviceName = 'Incidents'   tags = 'incidents'   summary = 'Incident test'   print("start")   print("create sddraft....")   # create service definition draft   analysis = arcpy.mapping.CreateMapSDDraft(mapDoc,                                           sddraft,                                           serviceName,                                           'ARCGIS_SERVER',                                           serverConnectionInDesktop,                                           copyData,                                           None,                                           summary,                                           tags)   # stage and upload the service if the sddraft analysis did not contain errors   if analysis['errors'] == {}:       print("no errors")       # Execute StageService       print("staging....")       # Process: Stage Service       arcpy.StageService_server(sddraft, sd)           print("uploading....")       # Process: Upload Service Definition       arcpy.UploadServiceDefinition_server(sd,                                         serverConnectionInDesktop,                                         serviceName,                                         "",                                         "EXISTING",                                         existingServerFolder,                                         "STARTED",                                         "USE_DEFINITION",                                         "NO_SHARE_ONLINE",                                         "PRIVATE",                                         "NO_SHARE_ORGANIZATION",                                         "")   else:       print("errors")       # if the sddraft analysis contained errors, display them       print analysis['errors'] ... View more

There should be a checkbox on the ArcGIS online layer not to perform a UTC conversion if the UTC time zone was not specified (as is an option when publishing from desktop, which resolves the issue entirely at 10.3). In general, the benefit gained from an automatic UTC conversion on none time zoned designated layers is not worth the confusion this causes most users. This would take care of the vast majority who normally collect data in one timezone, and where the intended audience is viewing from that zone as well. In fact, it could be argued that this should be the default behavior (no conversion to UTC). Thus, there would be a checkbox option if one WANTS the server to change it to UTC time (which is the current default).   ... View more

Agreed fully - in fact this idea really applies to any graphical asset, along with a new content type and worflow. See my expansion of this idea to as well as a the technical reasons why image hosting does not currently work well for symbols. Host Organizational Images in ArcGIS Online for Symbols and Storymaps ... View more

THere might be other ways to get this to work but this workflow is what I use. First make sure you know the projection of your data and have it all in the same projection. From ArcMap For the imagery: - use the clip raster tool to create a new raster dataset to a specific polygon rectangle that you previously created for the extent of your scene - export out the layer to a tif with these settings: no data is 0, check use renderer and force rgb, save as tif, 8 bit - export to a folder - copy/paste this folder into a folder such as your images or data folder in your CE workspace For the elevation: -same as imagery export but don�??t use RGB renderer, export as 8 bit tif In CityEngine, make a new scene (right click, new scene) but do not choose a coordinate system at this time. Then drag in the elevation tif file and CAREFULLY set the projection to match what you know it should be. CE will then ask you to also set the scene to this same projection and say yes. Choose your imagery and its projection. Wait a few moments, depending on the size of your image (it can take about 15 seconds if very large), and then right click on the scene and press 'f' to zoom to it if it isn't already show in the view window. ... View more

That is a nice iterative model for clipping the viewsheds to a variable view distance buffer. One thing that will increase performance greatly is to set the environment extent of the viewshed tool to the buffer result. To do this drag a line from the buffer output to the viewshed tool, and when prompted select the environment variable extent. This will cause the viewshed tool to only consider pixels within the extent of the buffer, and not waste processing time on areas outside the rectangle of your buffer. At version 10 you can use the RADIUS2 attribute, which if present will automatically clip the viewshed.  The default for RADIUS2 is infinity. Search the help for 'Using Viewshed and Observer Points for visibility analysis' and scroll to the bottom of that page. ... View more

I figured it out. In the TOC, either double click on the .cga file to reload it, or right click and choose refresh. Then click generate. but you need the buildings polys selected in the view first. This will pick up and apply any changes you make in a cga file in an external text editor. ... View more